


Unforgiven

by punkcatknitter



Series: Branch Breakers [4]
Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: Broken Families, F/M, Families of Choice, Flashbacks, Gen, Songfic, Teen Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2015-04-28
Packaged: 2018-03-26 03:25:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3835210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punkcatknitter/pseuds/punkcatknitter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A father finally hears what's been coming for a long time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unforgiven

**Author's Note:**

> So I finally decided to archive my old GG fics here for posterity, with the original author's notes if I still have them. Some are better than others, but I was so proud of them at the time.
> 
> Sort of an AU universe (same kids, different circumstances) of my other fics in this series.

Jess crossed his arms as soon as he saw who was standing on the doorstep. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I want to see my daughter.”

“Oh, really?” Jess rolled his eyes as he looked at Dean. “You finally remembered you have a daughter?” This was downright ridiculous.

Dean tried to push past him, but Jess wasn’t in the mood. “It’s been seven years, Dean. Did you really think she’d still be waiting out on the doorstep for you?”

“Where is she?”

Jess sighed, seeing that he would get nowhere with him. As usual. “She went out with her friends.” Jess couldn’t help but dart a nervous glance behind him. He really didn’t want Lindsay to wake up and find Dean here. She didn’t need the added stress.

“When will she be back?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Dean sneered at him. “Real responsible, Mariano.”

“Spoken like a true deadbeat dad.”

Dean lunged for him, but when Jess didn’t flinch, he thought better of it. Getting in a fight wouldn’t gain him any points with his daughter. “I’m not leaving until I see her.”

“Well then, you’ll have to buy a ticket like everyone else.”

***

“You what?!” Micha’s mouth dropped open when Jess told her what had happened that afternoon. “You invited him to the show? Why in hell would you do that?”

Jess raised his eyebrows. “I’ve heard that song you wrote. Sounds like you have something you’d like to say to him. This is your chance.”

She considered that, the dull noise of people talking and laughing around them momentarily drowned out. “Mom won’t like it.”

“I’ll take the blame.”

Micha looked up at him, her eyes wide with nervousness. “Are you sure?”

Jess smiled. “Michelle, father or not, you know how I feel about Dean. Any idiot that leaves a great kid like you deserves to hear what he missed out on.”

“Okay.” Micha took a deep breath as she turned around and walked towards the stage. Her stomach tied in knots, she picked up her already tuned guitar and pulled the strap over her shoulder.

The crowd had already quieted down in anticipation of the performance. Micha closed her eyes and began playing the opening riff. When she opened her eyes, she caught sight of a scruffy familiar-looking man in the back.

Her father.

Chin up; she looked directly at him as she began to sing.

_Daddy, daddy,_   
_Why’d you break your promises to me?_

Jess enjoyed the shocked look that was coming over Dean’s face.

_Daddy, daddy,_   
_Don't you know you hurt me constantly?_

Micha could almost forget about who was sitting out there as her fingers hit the guitar strings. She could forget he was there, but the anger was only beginning to flow.

Nico always said that she was scary when performing this song, as if she’d lost all control. Control of what, he hadn’t decided. Maybe her body, her voice, her emotions, it could be anything. All he knew was that she became a different person.

_And there's something I think that you should know,_   
_I'm not the little girl you left waiting at home_

Lindsay blinked hard against the tears. “She’s been out there for three hours.”

“I know.” Jess put his arm around his wife, and together they stared out the window at the lonely nine-year old girl sitting on the porch steps. She refused to budge from the spot, no matter what either of them said to her.

“He swore he’d be here.” Lindsay sniffled. “He said he’d be here at three, and he’d take her to the zoo. He promised, Jess. He promised.”

Jess kissed her lightly on the forehead, giving her a squeeze before he let go. “I’ll go talk to her.”

Micha didn’t move as his footsteps sounded against the floorboards. She just stared off at the street, waiting. “Daddy said he’d come.”

“I know, baby.” Jess sat down gingerly beside her. “Look, maybe Daddy got lost. He’s never visited us here before.”

“No,” Micha said softly. “He’s never visited here before.”

Jess wanted to hunt Dean down. Hunt him down and strangle him for hurting this little girl. How could he be that inconsiderate? He never saw her as it was, would it kill him to make good on one tiny promise to his daughter?

“He’s not coming.” “Micha turned to Jess, her eyes dry and her face stony. “Is he?”

_All the hurt and pain you left with mom and me,_   
_Why can’t I be angry?_

“Oh my god,” Lindsay paled. It was him. He was there. Dean was standing less than ten feet from her, less than a dozen feet from their daughter.

Jess moved beside her. “Its okay, Linds.”

“What do you mean it’s okay?” Lindsay whirled to look at Jess. Her ex-husband, her daughter’s biological father was there. He hadn’t contacted them in over seven years. Not since the day he called and told Micha he was coming to visit, and then never showed up.

Jess took her hand. She was beginning to look less confused. He squeezed her fingers gently. Lindsay hated to see Micha in pain, but they couldn’t stop him from being here.

All they could do is let Micha decide for herself how she wanted things to go.

_I hope you're somewhere out there listening to this song,_   
_I hope you're thinking what you did was wrong_

The shock Dean felt as Micha continued to sing was evident in his face, his eyes. Okay, she was angry. He could understand that, but he was sorry. He’d never been proud of what he’d done, who he’d been, but he couldn’t change that. All he could do was try and forge some sort of a future.

_Well let me make it crystal clear for you to see,_   
_It's too late for I'm sorry,_   
_Sorry is a word you like to say,_   
_But sorry won't erase the things you did yesterday_

She knew why he’d shown up again. He wanted forgiveness.

That wasn’t something she was willing to give.

Just because he’d sobered up again, just because he felt bad, that wouldn’t make all the hurt go away.

_And I want you to know that I didn't need you anyway,_   
_And this rope that we walk on is swaying,_   
_And the ties that bind us will never ever fray_

“Micha, what’s wrong?” Holden peered nervously at her.

Micha sniffled, looking down at her baby brother. He was so lucky. He had a mom and a dad. She wished so hard at night that Jess was her real daddy. He never would have left her, gone back on his promises.

Holden had everything that she wanted.

“Micha?” The pudgy three-year old frowned up at her. For his sake, the eleven-year-old forced herself to smile.

“It’s okay, Holden. I’m fine.”

She was. Dean would never stop being her biological father, no matter what, but as for him being her dad, well, that title was fuzzy.

_But I want for you to know,_   
_You are,_   
_You are,_   
_Unforgiven,_   
_Unforgiven_

“I’ll never forgive him,” Micha declared. “Never, ever, ever.”

Nico Rygalsky, easily her best friend in the world, nodded solemnly at her. “I can understand you feeling that way,” he said. “But it might be easier on you if you do. Forgive him I mean.”

She shook her head. “I couldn’t.”

“I’m not saying you have to condone what he did, but you don’t have to hate him anymore.”

“I don’t hate him. I hate what he did to me, how he acted, how he treated my mom. My hate is not directed to him, just my anger.”

Nico took a deep breath. “All right. Let me see the song.”

_Daddy, daddy,_   
_Fan of absolute simplicity,_   
_Daddy, daddy,_   
_Expert in responsibility_

Micha raised up her arm at the end of that last line, revealing a tattoo of a star on her inner arm.

Dean came flying over to Jess. “Was that what I think it was?”

“She gets the teenage rebellion thing from me. “Jess raised up his shirt sleeve to reveal an identical tattoo on the same spot.

As Dean fumed off, Lindsay sidled up to Jess and wrapped a fist around the front of his shirt. “You let our daughter get a tattoo?”

“Nah.” Jess smirked at her. “I told her to pick up a stick-on one on the way over to irritate the hairball.”

_Where were you when I fell down and skinned my knee?_   
_Where were you when I was scared to go to sleep?_   
_Where were you to soothe my insecurities?_   
_Why can't I be angry?_

Micha scribbled angrily while her other hand traced a small scar on the side of her knee. When she’d been five Dean had sent her a bike. A bike much too large for a kid her age, but she’d been determined to ride it anyway, to make her Daddy proud.

Jess tried really hard to help her learn, to make sure she didn’t fall, but she’d refused to put on training wheels, and had toppled over the first time he let go.

The scar never went away.

Micha had been staring at it when she decided to write the song.

_Where were you the first time someone broke my heart,_   
_Where were you when I first learned to drive a car,_   
_Where were you when I plugged in my first guitar,_   
_It's too late for I'm sorry_

“Micha!” Nico shouted, running down the street after her. “Wait!”

She didn’t stop. Instead, Micha continued running blindly down the road, tears streaming down her face. She didn’t want to talk to him or face the humiliation that she had just suffered.

Nico caught up with her, grabbing her arm and pulling her to a stop. “Wait,” he repeated.

Micha looked up at her from her damp lashes. He gritted his teeth, furious at what Scott had done to her.

“I should have known.” Micha’s lower lip trembled when she made this statement. How could she have been so stupid? Scott Marsden, wanting to go out with her? She should have known it was just a stupid bet.

Nico tilted her chin up gently with a hand. “Any guy who would turn you down is an idiot,” he told her seriously, staring deep into her eyes.

“Really?” she asked, her voice weak and small.

He wiped away a tear with the pad of his thumb. “Really,” he whispered, and leaned in to set his lips on hers.

Micha always smiled a little when she sung that line. She and Nico had been dating ever since.

_And I want you to know that I didn't need you anyway,_   
_And this rope that we walk on is swaying,_   
_And the ties that bind us will never ever fray_

She’d first written the song for revenge, as a way to work out her anger against him. Now, the truth of the matter was, she didn’t care. Dean Forrester might have his name on her birth certificate, but he was a stranger to her. She didn’t need him. She had a dad, a real one.

His name was Jess Mariano.

_But I want for you to know,_   
_You are,_   
_You are,_   
_Unforgiven_   
_Unforgiven_

**Author's Note:**

> Song lyrics by Fefe Dobson.


End file.
